Short Range Forecast Discussion NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD 322 AM EDT Wed Apr 15 2015 Valid 12Z Wed Apr 15 2015 - 12Z Fri Apr 17 2015 ...Heavy snow on its way to the Central Rockies while heavy rain is a threat for the Southeast and Gulf Coast... The remarkable spring cold front that has seen temperatures plunge from the 70s to the 30s in a matter of a few hours with a burst of snow over Utah will move slowly south and eastward over the next couple of days as an upper low develops over the central and southern Rockies. The development of this low signals that the weather system will not only move very slowly but will also bring considerable moisture to move within this system. Such lows can lead to significant upslope flow toward and over the mountains and combined with cold enough temperatures for heavy snow across portions of Wyoming, Colorado, Utah and parts of northern New Mexico. The slow movement of this system could lead to some very heavy snow amounts in excess of a foot of snow especially across Wyoming and Colorado. Meanwhile, a cold front will settle southward across the Southeast and Gulf Coast states and become stationary and will focus the development of heavy rainfall, showers and thundershowers especially from the Louisiana coast across Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia where rainfall totals over the next couple days will likely clear 1 to 2 inches and greater. Behind the cold front, high pressure will build across the northeast quarter of the nation bringing comfortable temperatures and fair weather to the Ohio valley and Northeast. As the surface high moves off the East Coast by Thursday, a return moist flow of air from the Southeast US will bring moisture northward into the Tennessee and Ohio Valleys, while moisture will also stream northward out ahead of the upper low parked over the Southern Rockies with showers and thunderstorms increasing across the Southern Plains and into the Central Plains especially by Thursday into Friday. Kocin Graphics available at www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/basicwx_wbg.php